This article was originally published 12/4/16 and updated 8/7/20.
Trump is ignorant
Today’s New York Times in an editorial called President Elect Trump “ignorant.” How’s that for bias? In response, Trump often calls the Times “a rag” and “fake news.”
It seems that Trump and the New York Times have locked horns. We can expect this thesis and anti-thesis for the next four years.
Castro dies. Politicians denounce him.
Give the guy a break….he’s dead. Cuban’s lined up for blocks to pay their respects for their leader of 65 years. OK, he treated the island like a large jail, with all the “free” people unable to get out. It reminds me of the millions of Russians who mourned Stalin when he died. Ok, he starved over 20 million people and treated Russians like prisoners.
But Stalin was their dictator. His personality symbolized decades of Russian history. Besides he “made Russia great again.” He made them a world power. They defeated Hitler and created an empire. (Then that nasty Gorbachev let it all go.) The Russian personality, although poor and enslaved had a “supra persona,” that is a part of his personality than transcended his ordinary, dreary, everyday personality. As a Russian,ˆhe was a big shot. He was a world player. Even the U.S. was afraid of him.
In a similar way, Castro successfully fought against Uncle Sam for 65 years and was also a world player, especially in Latin America. The imprisoned Cuban personality could pound his chest and say, “I’m a Cuban. I’m a big shot.”
Now Trump wants to do the same for the U.S.: make it great again. But the problem is that now every other country wants to be great again. And we know what that means: eventual WW III.
Take for example, Italy. Now many Italians want to pull out of the European Union and pound their chests, “We are Italians. We are great again.”
I can’t let this subject go without mentioning my friend Colin Kaepernick. He praised Castro and called him a hero. The athletes in Cuba are all in the poor house, and Kaepernick signed a $100 million deal to play football. How’s that for a contradiction!
Islam may destroy the European Union
RG just got back from Ireland. Word of mouth says the unspeakable (we don’t want to be called “racists”): the main reason why Britain backed out of the EU was the realistic “fear” of eventually becoming an Islamic country – and having the constant outbreaks of terrorism and concessions to freedom between now and the future Islamic England.
The argument was that once the one million refugees in Germany became citizens of the European Union, they could freely move to England, where many of them want to go. (They want to go to England because of this country’s democracy; its tradition of free speech, its toleration of other cultures; and its laws prohibiting “hate speech” against Islam and other groups. Virtually no Muslim countries have this same freedom.
If the Islamic movement succeeded in putting,say, 500,000 Islamic voters into Britain;s tiny electoral system, they would be on their way to fulfill the mission of the Koran: to make all peoples subordinate to Islam.
Now Italy is voicing the same desire to get out of the EU. Rumor (that is unsubstantiated, non-scholarly, non-evidenced-based articles) state that Muslims have gained significant influence in Southern Italy – with all the commiserate dysfunction. Now there is almost unlimited desire of Muslim refugees to come to that tiny peninsula,(because until Italy becomes more Islamic, it has one of the highest qualities of life of any country in the world, for example. the espirit de vie, the food, and the Catholic culture — that is, the culture of joy).
No one seems to mention – or even perceive – that this may be the long-term strategy of ISIS: to create havoc in the Mideast and force millions of Muslims to leave, and then have Muslims demand refugee status in Europe. Then the Muslim refugees can continue to pursue the Islamic jihad of making the whole world be subservient to Allah — and his spokesman, the Caliphate. Probably over 10% of the Muslim refugees will engage in this jihad, both democratic and violent, constantly accusing “racist” Europeans of “Islamophobia” and demanding justice for the persecuted Muslim minority.
Trump saves 1,000 jobs in Indiana – no one understand the economics
As we all have heard, Trump forced Carrier — an air-conditioning company — to stay in the U.S. and not to move to Mexico (where they pay workers $3 an hour). Half of the “economists” lauded this move and the other half (including the Wall Street Journal) condemned the move.
The anti-thesis to Trump’s Idea (that is, “keep American jobs home”) is that if we send Carrier to Mexico, we can buy cheaper air conditioners, and then Americans will have more money to buy other things, which will, in turn, create jobs in other fields. Plus, in order to close the deal, Indiana is going to gave Carrier $600 million in tax breaks (the Trump Idea says that Indiana would have gotten $0 in tax dollars if Carrier moved to Mexico).
It seems that, on the surface, anyone who opposes Trump’s Idea is irrational and immoral.
The U.S. government buys over $6 billion worth of air conditioners from Carrier. Thus, the opponents to Trump want Carrier to move to Mexico, costing Americans 1,000 jobs, and then buy (with taxpayer dollars) these, now Mexican, air conditioners. Is this nuts or what?
But then we have thoughtful and very educated economists who support this exact policy. They argue that the increased profits Carrier makes will be re-invested and make the U.S. wealthier. The anti-thesis is that, sure, they will re-invest the money, but the money will probably be re-invested in Mexico. The only people who will be wealthier are the Mexicans and the stock holders of Carrier.
Well……..who is right? Even when the consequences of Carrier staying in Indiana play out — perhaps in a couple of years — there will still be two opposite sides in the interpretation of the effects of Trump’s policies. One side “proving” it was a good policy and the other side “proving” that it was a bad policy.
And you, my friend, can make your own decision, even if you don’t have a doctorate in economics. Then you can bullshit with your friends about the subject and vote in the next election.
Later,
RG
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